Abstraction and Implementation Strategies for Augmented Reality Authoring

ion and Implementation Strategies for Augmented Reality Authoring Florian Ledermann, Istvan Barakonyi, Dieter Schmalstieg 1 Vienna University of Technology, Austria 2 Graz University of Technology, Austria Abstract. Augmented Reality (AR) application development is still lacking advanced authoring tools – even the simple presentation of information, which should not require any programming, is not systematically addressed by development tools. Moreover, there is also a severe lack of agreed techniques or best practices for the structuring of AR content. In this chapter we present APRIL, the Augmented Presentation and Interaction Language, an authoring platform for AR applications which provides concepts and techniques that are independent of specific applications or target hardware platforms, and should be suitable for raising the level of abstraction at which AR content creators can operate. Augmented Reality (AR) application development is still lacking advanced authoring tools – even the simple presentation of information, which should not require any programming, is not systematically addressed by development tools. Moreover, there is also a severe lack of agreed techniques or best practices for the structuring of AR content. In this chapter we present APRIL, the Augmented Presentation and Interaction Language, an authoring platform for AR applications which provides concepts and techniques that are independent of specific applications or target hardware platforms, and should be suitable for raising the level of abstraction at which AR content creators can operate. Figure 1: The interactive furniture construction guide is an example for an application which was created with APRIL by undergraduate students. The construction process is modeled with the state engine, and possible parts for the next step are shown to the user.